Airship



M. M. EGAN June 9, 1931.

AIRSHIP Filed Feb. 1'7, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY June 9, 1931. M.M. EGAN 8 AIRSHIP Filed Feb. 17, 1950' 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY June 9,1931.

M. M. EGAN AIRsHIP Filed Feb.

17, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY June 9, 1931. M. M. EGAN 1,809,680 IYAIRSHIP Filed Feb. 17, i950v 4'Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEY Patented Jimer9,1931 UNITED srA MATHEW M. EGAN, or roar won'r'n, TEXAS,

A m-sin? A Application filed February 17, ledrlserialfio. 429,172.

This invention relates to a a di rigible, the

of the ship, the vanes or blades of which are so formed as tof orce airinto a tube extende 'ing longitudinally through the ship and terminatingat the tail thereof, with means whereby the air flowing through the tubeis used to steer the ship and to raise and lower the same, said air alsoacting to'propel the craft forwardly as it escapes from the rear end ofthe tube.

Another object of the invention is to provide power driven means forrotating the propellers in opposite directions and to so form thepropellers that air can enter the nose of the ship and flow into thetube from the center of the front propeller. I

I, This invention also consists in certain other features ofconstruction and in the combina tion and arrangement of the severalparts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appendedclaims.

In describing the invention in. detaihreferones will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which U Figure1 is an elevation of the improved ship. r

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view thereof. I

7' Figure 3 is a section on line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section on line 4+4: of

Figure 2. v

"Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 2. j r I Figure 6 is asection on line 6-6 of Figure 2. a V V Figure 7 is a longitudinalsectional view through the rear part of the ship. V i

I Figure 8 is a view of one of the'valve menifbers. a In these"drawings, the numerall indicates the body of the ship which ispreferably of cylindrical form with its front end fiat and closed withthe exception of anopeni'ng' at the center and its rear end tapers. Thisbody is of the usual or any desired construction and is formed aplurality of gas cells 2. A frusto-conical propeller 3 is rotatablymounted at the frontend of the body b means of the anti frictionbearings 4 and a tube 5 is rotatably "supported at the centerof the.forward part of the body and has a flaring front end 6 which isconnected with the rear end of the propeller 3, this tube beingrotatably supported in the body by means of the bearings 7. A funnelshaped tube 8 is supported in the propeller 3fwith its large front endopening outthrou'gh the front end of the propeller and its small endprojecting into the mouth of the tube 5. A shaft 9 is rotatablysupported in the tube 5 by the spiders 10 and in the tube 8 by thespiders 11 and a substantially conical propeller 12 is fastened to thefront end of the shaft which projects beyond the propeller 3 so thatthis propeller 12 is in front of the propeller 3. Each propeller isformed of a framework 18 and thevanes or, blades, 14, the blades of onepropeller being curved in an opposite direction from the blades of theother propeller so that the blades of both propellers will force airinwardly when the propellers are rotated in opposite directions. Therear end of the front propelleris of slightly greater diameter than thefront end'of the'rear propeller-and the rear end of the rear propeller 3is slightly larger than the diameter of the body so that surplus air canpass from the rear ends of the propellers. 1

The nose of the front propeller 12 is formed with an opening 15 so thatas the ship is driven forwardly, air will enter the said opening and mixwith the air driven inwardly by the blades of the front propeller. Thecombinedair currents will pass through the funnel-shaped tube 8 of therear propeller into the tube 5 and the currents of air forced inwardlyby the blades of the rear propeller will pass through the flaring mouthofthe tube 5 into said tube. A stationary tube 16 is arranged at thecenter ofthe rear portion of the body with its front end arranged toreceive the airfrom the tube 5. An opening '17 is formed at the tail ofthe body into which the rear end of the tube 16 projects so that the airpassing through the tubes will escape at the rear of the ship and thusact against the air through which the ship is passing to propel the shipforwardly. The air escaping from the rear ends of the two propellerswill flow along the outside of the body and converge at the tailthereof, thus increasing the propelling action of the air escaping fromthe rear end of the tube 16.

A short tubular member 18 projects through the opening 17 and is pivotedat its forward end at two diametrical points to a ring 19, as shown at20, and this ring is pivoted to the end of the tube 16 at twodiametrical points, as shown at 21, the pivotal points 21 being at rightangles to the pivotal points so that the tubular member 18 can be swungto the right or left or up and down. As the air from the tube 16 escapesthrough the member 18, the direction of the escape of this air can becontrolled by the movement of the member 18 so that the ship can besteered to the right or left or vertically by the adjustment of thismember 18. This adjustment of the member 18 is secured through means ofthe cables 22 connected with the manually operated drums 23, the cablepassing over the guiding pulleys 24.

A vertically arranged tube 25 of square shape in cross sectionintersects the point of junction of the tubes 5 and 16, the ends of thetube 25 opening out through the top and bottom of the body. A valvemember 26 slidably arranged in each of the top and bottom parts of thetube 25, the upper valve member having a curved lower end, as shown at27, with an opening 28 in its forward wall at the lower end thereof sothat when this valve member is moved downwardly, some of the air fromthe tube 5 will pass into the opening 28 and be directed upwardly by thecurved wall 27 so that this air will pass through the top of the tube 25and act on the air above the ship and thus force the ship downwardly.The upper end of the lower valve member 26 is formed similar to thelower end of the upper valve member so that when this lower member israised, some of the air from the tube 5 will be caused to pass throughthe lower end of the tube 25 and thus act on the air under the ship toraise the ship. These valve members are each operated manually by meanswhich include the ratchet means 29. Suitable means should be provided toprevent the movement of each valve member from entirely closing thecentral passage so that some of the air can always escape through therear of the body no matter what position the valve members are in.

A pair of motors 30 is carried by the body and these motors areconnected together by a shaft 31 in such a manner that the shaft can bedriven by either motor or by both, as desired. This shaft is belted tothe inner end of the tube 5, as shown at 32, and it is also belted tothe inner end of the shaft 9, as shown at 33, one of the belts beingcrossed so that the tube 5 and the shaft 9 will be driven in oppositedirections. The exhausts for the motors are shown at 34, the cabin isshown at 35 and the landing cables at 36.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the ship is propelled by a pairof oppositely rotating propellers at its nose which are so formed as toforce air through a tube at the center of the ship so that the air isdischar ed at its tail, which also acts to propel the s ip forwardly andthe ship is steered by controllin the direction of escape of the air atthe tail of the ship. The ship is raised or lowered by directing some ofthis air upwardly or downwardly at approximately the center of the ship.The front propeller will travel at a greater speed than the rearpropeller on account of its reduced surface. The opcning at the nose ofthe front propeller will. engulf the dead air ahead of the propeller andcause it to pass through the central tube, thus increasing the flow ofair through the tube. This will also cause a displacement of vacuum infront of the ship.

Attention is called to the fact that the stability of the craft does notdepend on any outside fins or rudders as the air directed in any desireddirection steers and stabilizes. the craft.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction andin the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided thatsuch changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. A dirigible comprising a body, a longi' tudinallyarranged passage passing through the central part of the body, a pair ofpropellers at the front end of the body, one propeller being arranged infront of the other, means whereby the blades of the propellers willforce air into the front end of the passage so that the air escapingfrom the rear end of the passage will act to force the ship forwardly,means at the rear end of the passage for directing the air in certaindirections to guide the ship, means whereby some of the air from thepassage can be directed through the top of the ship to force the shipdownwardly and means whereby some of the air from the passage can beforced through the bottom of the ship to raise the ship such meanscomprising a vertically arranged tube passing through the body andintersecting the passage, a valve member in the lower part of the saidtube which, when raised, will direct some of the air from the passagedownwardly through the lower part of the ship to raise the same and asecond valve member in the top part of the tube which, when lowered,will force some of the air from the passage upwardly through the top ofthe ship to cause the ship to descend.

2. A dirigible comprising a body having,

a centrally arranged passage therein extending from one end of the bodyto the other, a tube rotatably arranged in the body and forming theforward part of the passage, a frusto-conical propeller connected withthe front end of the tube, a substantially conical propeller arranged infront of the first propeller, a funnel-shaped tube in the firstpropeller for receiving the air from the second propeller andintroducing it into the front part of the tube,'a. shaft rotatablysupported" in the tubes and connected with the second propeller, saidsecond propeller having an opening in its front end, means connectedwith the shaft and the first mentioned tube for rotating said parts inoppositedirections,

the blades of the propellers being arranged to force the air inwardlyinto the tubes whereby the air will pass through the passage and I partof the tube, a shaft rotatably supported in the tubes and connected withthe second propeller, said second propeller having an opening in itsfront end, means connected with the shaft and the first mentioned tubefor rotating said parts in opposite directions, the blades of thepropellers being arranged to force the air inwardly into the tubeswhereby the air will pass through the passage and escape from the rearend thereof and thus act to move the ship forwardly, and means forcontrolling the movement of the shipby the air escaping from thepassage.

4. A dirigible comprising a body having 7 a centrally arranged passagetherein extending from one endof the body to the-other, a tube rotatablyarranged in the body and forming the forward part of the, passage, afrusto-conical propeller connected with the front end of the tube, asubstantiall conical propeller arranged infront of the. rst propeller, afunnel-shaped tube in the first propeller for receiving the air from thesecond propeller and introducing it into the front part of the tube, ashaft rotatably supported in the tubes and connected with the secondpropeller, said second propeller having an opening in its front end,means connected with the shaft and the first mentioned tube V with theyfor rotating said parts in opposite directions, the blades of thepropellers being arranged to force the air inwardly into the tubeswhereby the air will pass through the passage and escape from the rearend thereof and thus act to move the ship forwardly, means forcontrolling the movement of the ship by the air escaping from thepassage, such means comprising a tubular member for receiving the airfronithe rear end of the passage and manually operated means forswinging said tubular member either to the right or'left or up or down.

c 5. A dirigible comprising a body having a centrally arranged passagetherein extending from one end'of the body to the other, a

tube rotatably arranged in the body and forming the forward part of thepassage, a

frusto-coiiical propeller connected with the, front end of the tube, asubstantially conical propeller arranged in front of the firstpropeller,a funnel-shaped tube in the first propelleri for receiving theair from the second propeller and introducing it into the front part ofthe tube, a shaft rotatably supported in the tubes and connected withthe second propeller, said second propeller having an opening in itsfront end, means connected with the shaft and the first mentioned tubefor rotating said parts in opposite directions, the blades of thepropellers being arranged to 7 force the air inwardly into the tubeswhereby-the air will pass through the passage and escape from the rearend thereof and thus act tomove the ship forwardly, means forcontrolling the movement of the ship by the air escaping from'thepassage, such means comprising a tubular member for receiving the airfrom the rear end of the passage, manually operated means for swingingsaid tubular member either to the right or leftor up or down, avertically arranged tube passing through the body of the ship andintersectingthe, passage, a valve member in the lower part of said tubewhich, when raised, will direct some of the air from the passagedownwardly through the lower part of the ship to raise the ship, asecond valve member a in the top part of the said tube which, whenlowered, will force some of the air from the passage upwardly throughthe top of the ship to cause the ship to descend and manuallyoperatedmeans for adjusting each valve member; r

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MATHEW M. EGAN.

